Return of a Hero
by MistyLu132
Summary: Summary is the first chapter. This fanfic was deleted, but I am slowly putting it back together and making it again. First How To Train Your Dragon fanfiction from me. Possibly the only. The Adventure part of this story is told in stories/flashbacks and will begin to show in the eight chapter and will continue on as it progresses.
1. Death of a Hero

**Death of a Hero**

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A month after peace was made between dragons and Vikings; Hiccup went into the woods with Toothless and Astrid. Walking, talking, little bit flying and relaxing, it was great… but then… _it _showed up… a Whispering Death. It pulled Hiccup and Toothless from down under and no one had heard of them since. Astrid called for them, but heard no answer. She ran to the village and told everyone about what happened. They ran back to the spot and after hours of searching and failing to find anything, they gave up and presumed they had been killed.

Five years had passed since the death of Hiccup and his dragon. The village still was grey. Anyone hardly ever smiled. It just wasn't the same without Hiccup. Without any sarcastic remarks or dumb jokes… without that goofy personality of his… without his inventions that had driven everyone mad, because they would hit someone or someone's house… Berk was empty…

But one day, that all changed… and that day… was this day…

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	2. Return of a Hero

**Return of a Hero**

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It was another day of Dragon training and the usual gang came to the arena. Snoutlout was chatting with Astrid, trying to get to her, again. He talked to her for what seemed like hours. Class started. Astrid couldn't concentrate on anything. She missed Hiccup so much, and depression swept over her for the past couple of years.

"What's today?" asked Snoutlout.

"How about _Element of Surprise? _Or maybe _Silence? _I think you could really use that, Snoutlout." said a familiar, but long unheard voice.

Then, she heard this familiar but long unheard voice and shook her head. _Stop it, Astrid. Hiccup's not here. You're becoming insane_, she thought. A tear escaped her left eye as her mind brings back her memories with Hiccup. Anxiety was starting to visit her thoughts again, and she couldn't resist turning around.

They all turned to see a man with a metal prosthetic leaning against the entrance wall. She was expecting a lonely space of emptiness behind her, but instead she saw this goofy boy with one prosthetic leg. It was Hiccup! Only one person had such a complicated prosthetic and such a sarcastic and goofy nature.

"So… miss me?" he asked with his signature goofy grin.

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	3. The Academy Reunion

**The Academy Reunion.**

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She ran over to him and gave him a tight hug that she's wanted to give. Hiccup smiled at the hug he got and hugged her back.

"Yup, you still give suffocating hugs." he joked and pulled away from the embrace. "And let me be the one to say: No I am not a ghost and hello!" he said with a small wave.

Astrid punched Hiccup on the arm, "That's for scaring me _again_." She grabbed his collar and pulled him to her, and gave him a sweet, long, lingering kiss. She pulled away from the kiss and hugged him one more time, "I missed you so much," she whispered to his ear.

"Heh, missed ya too…" he whispered back.

"Ok, so…" he said pulling back from the hug and turning to the others who were just staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths.

"W-we… w-we th-thought you were dead…" said Fishlegs, stumbling over his words. "A-Astrid said… sh-she said she saw you were pulled down… b-by a Whispering D-Death…"

"Ah, wonderful. Aren't you cheery?" he said with sarcasm. "Well, yes, I was, but as you can see I got to the end of the Whisper and never got to the Death part."

"Where were you, Fishbone? And how the Hel are you even here?" yelled Snoutlout in anger.

"Not really much of a fishbone now…" remarked Ruffnut, looking over at Hiccup.

Indeed, with his new leather suit made of shoulder pads, leather straps, metal locks, a Deadly Nader symbol on his chest, the same symbol, that was made on Toothless' tail years ago, a red skull, on his right shoulder pad and a dagger strapped to his arm, with leather straps, new height, a few years added to his face and longer hair, which slightly fell into his face, he was less of a fishbone than ever. "Ok, now that I am surprised to hear from you. Who'd of thought you actually missed me. Good to know, good to know." he snickered. "Well, short version: Got pulled down, tried to escape, Toothless helped, got out and thought I'd have a little vacation."

"A little vacation, huh," Astrid crossed her arms. "So, you left us here for five years _worried, thinking that you were dead, _and now you're saying that you were just on a 'little vacation'?!" Hiccup was starting to get on her nerves. She's been suffering nostalgia and depression because she was missing him. "You could've at least told me!"

"Well, hey, I would have told you sooner, but it's not really my fault the nearest exit to escape through was miles away, now is it?" he asked with a shrug. "Five years, huh? I must've lost track of time, then."

He looked over at everyone as they slowly started to snap out of their surprise. "Wow, five years and you still haven't changed a bit." he commented referring to both physical appearance and personality.

Ruff and Tuff were still goons, Fishlegs was still a slightly scared, dragon-know-it-all, Snoutlout was still an idiot and a jerk and Astrid was still, well… Astrid. After a few seconds Toothless ran into the arena and glided next to Hiccup. "Hey, bud. Where've you been?" he said scratching his dragon behind the ear. Toothless purred in response and once Hiccup stopped scratching, he sat up and looked over at the teens with his big green eyes.

"Haven't changed? Well, obviously you have," Astrid gestured to Hiccup with his new leather suit and all, "… a lot."

"You just gestured to all of me." he said rolling his eyes, like he used to do when someone pointed out all of him.

She walked closer to Toothless after Hiccup stopped scratching him behind the ear, and petted the Night Fury. "I think I missed Toothless more," she said with a mocking tone. "Whoa! What have you done to your dragon?" she was surprised and impressed with Toothless' new tail and saddle.

He turned to his dragon at her question "Oh, nothing much, just added some new settings, modified the tail a bit, made the saddle longer, just minor adjustments to help out in flight." he explained, gesturing with his hands to the modifications. "It's pretty cool."

"Yeah? Well if it's so cool, then why don't you demonstrate, dragon-boy?" Snoutlout said and the twins and Fishlegs all nodded.

"Well, if you insist…" he said bowing his head down and moving his hand up in an exaggerated way and then moved it back to his side and it landed on Toothless' head. "What do you think?" the dragon huffed in agreement.

Astrid moved a little bit backwards to give Hiccup and his dragon some space, and she waited for what the boy in the leather suit could do with the black Night Fury.

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	4. Demonstration

**Demonstration.**

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"Ok, then." he mounted himself on Toothless and grabbed the helmet that was hanging by the saddle on a hook and put it on and with a click of his prosthetic they were off with great speed, rushing through the entrance.

Hiccup moved his prosthetic to make the fake fin move, them practically reading each others minds as to where to fly. And to no surprise, they'd been doing this for years, they were one when they were in the sky – Hiccup knew where Toothless was about to go, and the dragon in return knew where his rider wanted to go. They did a few drop-spins, backward loops, which were always fun to do, and such and then leveled out.

"Ok, bud, you ready for the finale?" Toothless growled in approval and they went up as high as they could, beyond the clouds, evened out. Hiccup shifted the levers on the saddle and adjusted Toothless' tail fin and secured it in place. Hiccup shifted his shoulders and… fell off of Toothless. Toothless soon followed him and fell along with him. They looked from the ground to each other and Toothless and Hiccup spun around one another. Once they were through the clouds and half-way to falling down in the arena, Hiccup strapped his arms into the leather loops at the lower part of his suit and expanded his arms. Toothless opened up his wings soon after and they were both gliding through the air.

After a while of gliding, they both shifted towards the arena and Hiccup went back on Toothless' back, the parts of the suit that helped him fly before now inside his suit again and they landed in the entrance. Hiccup got off of Toothless and took off his helmet, which he hung on a hook on Toothless' saddle, and flattened down his messy hair, which had messed up because of the helmet.

Astrid's jaw dropped wide open, along with the others'.

"That was… whoa," words couldn't even describe how amazing that was! "You just.. I mean… wow!" She had to admit, she was very impressed. The worst Viking Berk has ever seen five years ago became the best dragon rider ever. "So is that why you took a 'little vacation'? To have that leather suit and practice some flying tricks?" Astrid asked sarcastically with a little smirk visible on the corner of her lips.

He chuckled at Astrid's reaction. She was a hard-to-impress Viking, and if she's impressed, that means it was amazing. "Nah, that was more of a side-activity. Mainly just traveled across the world, met some nice people, some not so nice people, it was nice." he said with a shrug and a smile.

"Met new people huh? So have you met someone better than me?" Astrid joked and nudged Hiccup's elbow.

"As if." he replied, rolling his eyes. "But enough about me. What about you guys? Anything interesting happen while I was away?" he asked, leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

"Not really," said Astrid. "I took over the Academy, and now that you're here, you owe me big time! It was hard working with them, you know," she gestured to the other teens to prove her point. She rolled her eyes.

"I am not surprised by that at all." he commented.

"Anyway, other than that, the village was very sad about your not-real-anymore death. Oh and your Dad misses you more than you could ever imagine," she said with her hands on her waists. "You should see him now, by the way. Let him and everyone else know that you're here," she said with a smile.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." he said leaning off of the wall and standing up "Well, see ya around." he said with a small salute, went to his dragon, put on his helmet and with a click of his prosthetic, he was off to see his father and was mentally preparing himself for the bone-crushing hug he might get from his father once he sees him.

After he went off to see his father, Ruffnut commented with a chuckle "I'd love to see one of you guys do that!"

"Wouldn't that, like, kill you?"

"Exactly." She said and got yanked down by her helmet with a laugh, by Tuffnut.

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	5. The Father-Son Reunion

**The Father-Son Reunion**

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Once he got to his old house, where he was sure to find his dad, he landed behind the house and took his helmet off. He knocked on the front door and heard his father's voice "Come in."

Hiccup slowly opened the door and once he closed it said "Hello…"

His father was sitting on the fur covered couch, facing the fire and turned to see a figure with a complicated metal prosthetic. He froze for a while "…Hiccup…?"

"Hey dad…" Stoic stood up and looked at him for a while, before giving him the bone-crushing hug that his son had expected. "I missed you, son…"

"I know, dad… I missed you, too…" they pulled away from the embrace and Stoic laughed proudly - something he hadn't done in quite a while. "We've got to celebrate! Let's tell the village!" his son nodded in agreement.

"You go call the village together. I'll get to the Great Hall and wait."

Stoick called a meeting and called everyone in the village to come. Everyone was murmuring and questioning what this was about. Some blamed the twins, since they had almost burned down the entire armory a few days ago. Others blamed each other for the most ridiculous things.

Stoick stood up from his seat and everyone stopped their murmuring. "I called you all here for one reason. As you all know, five years ago, my son was taken by a Whispering Death. We searched for hours, but didn't find a single sign of them. We all remember that day. But from this day, you can forget it. For this day is the day we finally have something to celebrate!" he said directing to a figure not too far from him and came towards him, taking off his helmet, stood next to Stoic, as he placed his meaty hand on his shoulder "My son is alive!" Hiccup just waved a little, with his signature, innocent look, as he looked over at the Vikings who just looked at him for a while.

"Hi there."

Slowly, the villagers started laughing and Mildew spoke up, laughing.

"I'm sorry, Stoick, but are you seriously expecting us to believe that that is your precious boy? What, you think he came back from the dead?"

Stoick looked like he was about to kill the old man, but Hiccup shook his head and showed an 'I got this' signal.

"Mildew, first off, take a seat and shut up, because frankly I don't think any of us enjoy hearing your voice no matter the occasion and, second, I survived an encounter with a Night Fury, the supposed unholy offspring of lighting and death itself, survived the battle with the Red Death and I survived getting hit with a lightning bolt and almost drowning. I believe I am able to survive getting attacked by a Whispering Death." He said and crossed his arms.

The people laughed again, this time at Mildew, and began cheering with joy, as Hiccup released the breath he didn't know he was holding.

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I realize that I skipped a chapter. It is now posted along with the next chapter. I apologize for skipping over a chapter and any confusion it may have caused you.


	6. Good to be back

**Good to be back.**

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For the first time in a really long time, the villager's faces were lit up with happy smiles. It was like Berk's first Snoggletog with dragons all over again; everyone was so cheerful. Everyone was there, with their dragons. Astrid, along with Stormfly, who was looking for Hiccup and his dragon. It seemed like the Deadly Nader wanted to celebrate with the Night Fury, just as Astrid wanted to celebrate with Hiccup.

After the announcement of Hiccup's return, Astrid walked towards him. "Well, that went well," she commented. "Remember when everyone used to think that you were such a nuisance; when everyone said that they would be happier if you were gone," Astrid laughed at the thought, "and now, look at them," she continued. "They're all so filled with joy just because you're back." She looked into Hiccup's eyes and smiled. "They _missed _you." Astrid held his hand, "_I missed you_," she kissed the brown-haired Viking one more time.

Hiccup sighed happily into the kiss and after pulling away added: "Huh, really? I hadn't noticed." he joked, with a chuckle.

Astrid laughed and punched his arm again. "So, you wanna go get something to eat?" she asked him.

"Well, might as well join in with the others." he gestured to the eating Vikings. Whenever something great happens, they eat. Some great news - eat, Snoggletog - eat, he comes back - eat. "What is it with Vikings and eating?" he commented with an eye-roll.

"Fine then," she crossed her arms, "what do you wanna do?"

"Right now, just relax for a while. I'm not in no hurry to do anything." he said with a shrug.

She smiled a little, "Okay."

They spent the rest of the day together in the hall with the others, Hiccup asking about how things had been on Berk, refusing to say a thing about what he did, saying 'not yet'. After a while though, they soon felt tired. Hiccup stretched and yawned and said: "Well, I'm gonna turn in for tonight. G'night!"

She was feeling a little tired too, "I'll see you tomorrow then. And don't you dare disappear for another five years!" she joked.

"Wasn't planning to." he grinned and waved her a goodbye.

She then walked away with a little goodbye wave, and headed to her home. She still couldn't believe that Hiccup was back. She still thought it was just a dream - a long, insane dream. She was tired - physically, mentally, and emotionally. She just wanted to sleep and expect the worst when the sun rose in the next morning.

He stayed up for a while, putting down all his stuff down and finally got to sleep. Toothless went on his wooden bed and warmed it up with his flame. Hiccup's last thought before falling asleep was…

_Good to be back._

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Favorite, follow and/or review if you like. It would certainly be appreciated.

These chapters will get longer, I promise. Just hang in there guys and be patient. Trust me, it'll be worth the wait.


	7. Class in Session

**Class in session.**

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The next morning, Astrid woke up to seeing Stormfly's face outside her window. That was weird. She usually woke up at 3am to the same nightmare every night ever since Hiccup disappeared. She knew Hiccup was back, but instead of feeling relieved and happy; her mind reminded her that everything that happened yesterday was just a dream. Anxiety swept over her as she got up.

Later that morning, she flew to the arena just like she did every day for their training, and she wasn't prepared for what she saw. All the teens were there, but this time, they were with Hiccup and Toothless. Her chest felt lighter when her eyes caught the sight of the handsome one-legged Viking. _It wasn't a dream_, she whispered to herself before landing her dragon on the arena.

Hiccup, that same morning, awoke to his daily early-morning alarm-clock - Toothless. They went for a little morning flight and then landed in the arena. It was a good half-hour before training, so he had enough time to set the course. "Let's get to work, bud." he said and started off by putting up some hurdles, then adding logs to the roof of the arena. Once he was done there were five more minutes until training and the teens poured in. They talked and punched each other in the faces for a while and then Hiccup got up and walked over to the center. "Alright, class, let's begin!" he said and the teens lined up. When Astrid came in he turned around and said "Ah, Astrid, you're just in time."

Astrid landed Stormfly on the arena and jumped off her dragon's back in an instant. She turned to Hiccup and said, "So, mister dragon-expert, now that you're back, what is it we're up to today?" she smiled at him with her arms crossed.

"I thought I'd use the opportunity to have a little fun around here, so…" he spun around on his heel and faced the other teens and directed to the hurdles "Today's about control. If your dragon gets knocked down, it'll recover, but if you get knocked down, your dragon might not be able to catch you in time."

"Pft, I can get over those in my sleep!" said Snoutlout.

"Yeah, but you have to go over _and_ under them. Think you can do that?"

"Give me a bit more of a challenge, would ya, Haddock?"

"Please, by all means, go ahead." he said motioning Snoutlout to fly through the hurdles.

Snoutlout jumped on Hookfang and yelled "Alright, Hookfang, get your _butt_ in gear!" and with that Hookfang went through the hurdles, not minding the fact that Snoutlout was getting hit by every one of them. Hookfang then landed back in his original spot and shook his scared stiff rider. "S-s-see? E-e-easy…" he whimpered.

"Astrid, how 'bout you have a go and show how it's _supposed _to be done?" Hiccup asked, turning to Astrid, knowing she would do way better than Snoutlout.

Astrid unfolded her arms and went to her dragon, "Gladly," she said with a smirk. She jumped on Stormfly's back with confidence rushing through her. She wanted to impress Hiccup. "Let's go, Stormfly," she patted her dragon's side with her right hand, and in a second, they were off their spot. Stormfly swiftly went through the hurdles, moving over and under them, and in less than a minute, they were back in their position earlier. The blonde got off the Nader's back and walked towards the rest of the teens with a grin.

Hiccup crossed his arms and watched her go. He gave an approving nod and once she was done, smiled at her "Good work, Astrid." he then turned to the others "Well? Who's next?"

After an hour of trying and failing, Hiccup was about to give up, when he got an idea "Alright, whoever finishes this course first, without getting knocked down is free from training for a week." Instantly every one of them started to try harder and at one point the twins were even close to finish it. But alas, they failed. "Alright, that's enough for today. We'll continue tomorrow. Class dismissed!"

Astrid walked towards her dragon, "I can't believe that they still haven't mastered that yet even though it's been five years," she mentioned with a sigh and a light laugh.

"Heh, yeah," he chuckled "But at least we now know the secret to them working harder - promise them something that they want. Although, I will admit that if either one of them finishes at all, all they'll get is five minutes off training, so… there's that…" he rambled on.

-Race to the Hall-

She hopped on her dragon, "So, you wanna do something today?" she asked Hiccup.

He went over to Toothless and hopped on. "Uh, not really, no. I was just planning to grab a bite at the Hall and then fly around for a while. So, not really up to anything today. Why?" he asked, already hooked on and holding the helmet in his lap, head turned to Astrid.

"Oh nothing," Astrid shrugged, "Just thought maybe you'd want to hang out with me for a while and you know, catch up or something like that."

He thought for a second and then answered "Yeah, why not?" he then got an idea and smirked "But, that is…" he said putting on his helmet, smirking "…if only you can catch up to me!" he yelled out and with that was out of the arena and quickly flying to the other side of the island, wanting to go around a few rounds.

"Wha- hey!" Astrid followed Hiccup out. _Challenge accepted_, Astrid thought. It's a good thing that they exercise daily and that Stormfly has been eating more chicken than fish for the past five years. Hiccup and Toothless were too fast, but Astrid and her dragon would never let themselves lose. They were closing up to the Night Fury.

Hiccup looked back and saw the Viking girl catching up to him and smiled to himself "Alright then, game on." he petted his dragon "Come on, bud, let's go!" Hiccup shifted some levers and secured them, then put his legs up, so that he was laying on Toothless completely. Toothless folded his wings and they fell downwards. Then they entered the water and flew under the wings of some Thunderdrums that were flying out of the water. Once they were higher, Hiccup shifted his legs back and clicked in his prosthetic. They flew up, fast. They entered the wavy rock pillars and quickly twisted and turned around them hoping to lose Astrid and her dragon. Once they got out, Toothless did a loop-d-loop out of habit and continued flying ahead.

Astrid and Stormfly stopped in mid-air, "Whoa," Astrid said to herself, astonished. "Okay, Stormfly, let's go," Stormfly positioned herself and swiftly went to a different direction. They flew towards east and curved so that they would arrive in front of Hiccup and Toothless.

Hiccup and Toothless turned slightly sideways and Toothless flapped his wings, as they turned left and around the island. When Astrid showed up in front of them, Hiccup smiled to himself "Glad to see you've been training!" he yelled to her "Too bad you're not gonna win, though!" He dove under her and quickly flew ahead. He spotted the Great Hall and flew towards it, as quick as possible and soon landed, before Astrid did. He stayed in place, looking up as Astrid soon landed next to him.

The Nader and her rider followed Hiccup and Toothless to the Great Hall. Stormfly landed near Toothless and Hiccup and Astrid soon got off her dragon's back. "Of course you'd win. You have the fastest dragon on the island," Astrid admitted with a playful roll of eyes.

Hiccup chuckled at her statement. He jumped off of Toothless and took off his helmet, hooking it to the saddle and flattened down his messy hair. "Well hey, you've been the best dragon trainer/flyer on Berk for five years, I think it's about time someone changed that." he said with a smirk and crossed arms. He moved his hands to motion to the Great Hall "After you." he said and then whispered "You might as well get somewhere before me." he snickered. Of course he was awaiting a punch from Astrid just as much, as the next guy who might have annoyed her.

Astrid rolled her eyes one more time at Hiccup's chuckle. She punched Hiccup's arm in response to the first sentence he mentioned, and moved towards the Great Hall just as he motioned. She flipped her bangs away from her hair. Hiccup's last comment made her turn around and punch his arm again, but this time, harder. In spite of his annoying remarks, he managed to make Astrid smile just by simply putting on that goofy smile she loved so much and that messy brown hair.

He rubbed his arm and followed Astrid "Can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of missed your punches." he admitted. The punches hurt, but it was worth it.

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Favorite, follow and/or review if you like. It would certainly be appreciated.

Class in session is actually the main chapter here. Race to the Hall is a mini chapter. It has its own name, but, without it here, Class in Session wouldn't be long enough to be considered a chapter, really. Confusing I know.

In the next chapter you'll find out how Hiccup and Toothless survived being captured by the Whispering Death and in the later on chapters, partially including the next one, you'll find out what they were up to in the five years they were gone.


	8. Story Time

**Story time**

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He grabbed a chicken leg and a fish and sat down at an empty table. Although, it wasn't empty for long.

She sat at the same table with Hiccup, having only a cup of water in her hand; she wasn't hungry at all. Their table was soon invaded by curious Vikings like moths to flame. And so Mr. Popular awakens! Everyone went to Hiccup, wanted to ask so many questions. On and on they went. Astrid just stayed quiet across the table, just listening. She knew that _this_ would soon happen; that everyone would want to be around Hiccup. But even though she had expected this, she still felt a slight pang of jealousy.

The teens saw Hiccup and quickly sat at the table where he was at.

"Hey, Hiccup!"

"How ya doing?"

"What's up?" and other greetings were heard. And, of course, soon Hiccup was showered with questions, which were hard to understand, since they were asked all at the same time.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down guys. Let a guy enjoy his lunch." he said, holding sit hands up and they stopped questioning, but still, once in a little while asked a question but none of those questions were completed, as the askers received glares from Hiccup. When he was mostly done with his meal, he spoke up. "Alright… now what was it you guys were asking me- and please: one at a time. Can't understand a thing with you talking at the same time." he mumbled that last part.

Snoutlout asked first: "How did you escape from the Whispering Death?" the others nodded and whispered "Yeah! What happened?" and stared at him, awaiting his answer.

"Well, I don't really remember it well, since it was a pretty long time ago, but here's what basically happened."

Astrid leaned in closer to Hiccup with her chin lazily rested on her palm as she curiously listened to the now-famous Viking telling his story.

"After the dragon pulled me and Toothless down, it pulled us along for a while and when we got off its tail, literally, the logical course of action was to get out. But I had no idea which way was out. So I and Toothless run, of course, to try and find a hole to the outside. We run for a good five minutes, when suddenly I hear something and the earth starts shaking and the dragon appears again. We run, as fast as we can and then I get an idea. I find the next exit to the side and hide there and hope the dragon will look outside, but unfortunately, it goes on searching underground. We run a bit more and run into a dead end. I thought I was doomed and then, of course, I had to go and do something crazy." a few murmurs of 'what did you do?' were heard.

While Hiccup was telling his story, a few other Vikings that were in the Hall had went over to the table and sat around to listen to the tale.

"Well, I held out my hand and turned my head away, praying to the Gods I don't get killed and it seemed that they heard me, cause five seconds later, the dragon, instead of killing me, was just right there in front of me and not doing a thing." a few gasps of wow's were heard in the crowd around them. "I told it to dig a tunnel out of there and that's pretty much it. I was too far to know where I was, so I decided to just go across the world to find Berk again. Got a few souvenirs, had a bit of fun, almost died again, but didn't, and now here I am." he said finally and put his crossed arms on the table, leaning on his elbows.

Astrid, with her chin still resting on her hand, listened as Hiccup finished his story. It was pretty cool, yeah. She rolled her eyes at the clingy girls, and was about to leave the Great Hall when something made her stop. She went back to her seat quickly when she heard Hiccup mentioned 'almost died again'.

"Wait, what do you mean 'Almost died again'? You mean after the Whispering Death encounter?" asked Fishlegs.

Hiccup nodded.

"How? What happened? And where?" Fishlegs asked further.

Before Fishlegs could ask any more questions, Hiccup stopped him "Uh, that's a story for another time."

She was ready to listen again but Hiccup refused to tell. Oh she's got to hear this!

He shook off the villagers around him and the girls that were clinging to him. He kind of liked the attention he got, but at the same time it was a bit too much. He stood up and spoke: "Well, I'm gonna go now. Been nice talking with ya guys, but, uh, yeah. Bye!" he said and practically swam through the sea of Vikings around the table, but they soon opened up a path for him and he ran outside for fresh air. He went outside and leaned against the wall and slid down it, sitting down. Toothless saw him and went next to him and sat down. The dragon stared at him and nudged his rider slightly. Hiccup chuckled and petted his dragon, as he purred.

Astrid followed Hiccup outside the Great Hall. She got out and found Hiccup with Toothless on the ground, "Hey, about that, uhm, 'almost died again' thing," she put her hands on her hips, "what happened?"

Hiccup heard Astrid's question and answered simply "Eh, it involved a bear, a princess and a place called Dunbroch. Nothing interesting." He got up and his dragon followed him. "I'm not big on telling stories, unlike Gobber." he shrugged and hopped on Toothless. "Maybe I'll tell you later." he said turned against her. He turned back to front and put on his helmet "Come on, bud, let's go." he petted his dragon and they were off.

"A bear? Dunbroch? A _princess_?" she sounded a bit jealous about the 'princess' part. But still, that didn't stop her curiosity; it just increased it. "Not big on telling stories? Really?" before she could get an answer, he was already gone.

"Princess. Pfft," Astrid rolled her eyes and headed back to the Great Hall. After a while, she left the Hall and flew back to her home.

The rest of the day went pretty normal for Astrid. After doing her chores and other stuff that needs to be done, evening finally arrived. It was getting late and she was already tired. She lay down on her bed, closed her eyes, and let sleep take over her.

After flying for a while, it was almost dark. Hiccup landed back at the Hall, ate some fish and went back home. He fed Toothless, went upstairs, climbed through the window to the roof and sat down, arms crossed, leaning against the rooftop front post. He only slept two hours that night. He'd missed the view on Berk.

* * *

Favorite, follow and/or review if you like. It would certainly be appreciated.

In the next chapter, the gang, well, the gang minus Hiccup, discuss a thing, they won't tell him about the thing and at the end Astrid asks Hiccup a thing. No spoilers tho, so don't ask for them.

In case you didn't notice, I added Merida to the story. **No love triangle though.** As much as I love love triangles, they can get annoying at times and for this story, the love triangle just didn't seem to fit. Merida and Hiccup will be the classic BROtp, where you have the hero and the ginger. Heroes and gingers are almost ALWAYS BROtps, the one exception that I know of being Eleven and Amy, where at one point the BROtp for some turns into an OTP, but it's still a BROtp to me. Seriously though, hero and the ginger - Harry and Ron, Ten and Donna, Dean and Charlie, Anna and Castiel and so on - awesome. So, we're gonna have that.


	9. Discussion

**Discussion**

* * *

After the next day's class, Astrid walked over to Stormfly, "Come on, girl. Let's go eat."

She got on the dragon's back and they flew out to the Great Hall. When Astrid got there the other teens were there as well. She grabbed a plate of chicken along with a cup of water and joined the other teens at their table.

"Hey, so, Astrid, I was thinking maybe you'd like to do some training in my parents' basement, there's room for two, if you want-" Snoutlout started, but was cut off by Fishlegs.

"Snoutlout, that hasn't worked on her for pretty much ever. Why do you think today's gonna be any different?" he asked.

"Yeah, besides, you know she likes Hiccup." Ruffnut added.

"That was never confirmed." Snoutlout protested.

"Pretty sure it was confirmed when Astrid had her face all over Hiccup's." said Ruffnut with her little laugh.

She rolled her eyes at them, trying to keep her face from blushing. "How about if my fist were all over your face?" she snapped, and then took a sip from her cup. "And, besides, that was five years ago."

"And yet now that he's back, you've been staring at him like one of those twelve year olds." Ruffnut added and Tuffnut snickered.

"You know she's just gonna protest." said Fishlegs

"I have _not_!" she protested, just like Fishlegs had concluded. She just shook her head.

"Then here's her chance to prove she hasn't." Said Tuffnut.

Just at that moment, Hiccup came in. The others turned his way. Hiccup shook off the young teen girls that were constantly flirting around him and talking to him and asking questions, like they had nothing better to do. Once he got rid of them, he rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh and walked over to the table at which the others were sitting and greeted them: "Hey."

"Hey, Hiccup. We were just talking about you." Said Fishlegs.

"Oh really?" Hiccup asked, with a raised eyebrow and sat down next to Astrid. "Can I get in on the subject?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning on the table with his elbows.

"Sure! We were talking about you and how A-" started Snoutlout, but he was cut off by Astrid, kicking him in the shins. "OW! Nevermind." He quickly said.

"Ok then…" Hiccup said I bit confused.

"We were just talking about 5 years ago," she said and glared at Snotlout. She toyed with her food, obviously her appetite was lost.

"And more specific…?" he asked. _Me + five years ago… I have got to hear this… but what would be so important that they had to revert to five years ago and about him… and why'd Astrid kick Snoutlout before he finished…? I know she hates his guts, but what was that about? _Soon the wheels in his mind were turning and he figured out what they were talking about. To be honest, he kind of felt flattered, but at the same time a little awkward about it. He subconsciously smirked and waited what Astrid would come up with, so she wouldn't have to say it.

_Damn it_, she muttered in her brain. She wanted to stand up and just ditch the teens, but leaving would appear as a weak or lame excuse. "Just some stuff about you after defeating the Red Death," she shrugged. That sounded good enough. After all, it was kind of true. She looked down at her barely-touched meal.

"Good enough an answer for me." he replied. He stayed there for about ten more minutes, listening and trying not to laugh at the teen's conversation about… he didn't even know what. Then he saw that some of those girls from before were back and coming towards _him. A-oh… _He got up and left, not answering the question of where he was going. He walked out and closed the door, wiping his face _I really hope that wares off…_

The conversation just went on and on and Astrid stayed quiet just like she always did. She saw Hiccup leave, and as always, curiosity got the best of her. Luckily, the teens seemed too tied up with their talking and didn't notice that Astrid got up too. She went outside the Great Hall, and found Hiccup there.

"Hey. What's up? Where'ya going?"

"Not going anywhere. Just wanted to get out of there before it was too late." he said with an eye roll. "I really hope that wears off and can go back to being practically invisible." he said, running his hand through his hair and then dropping it to his side. He walked over to Toothless who was jumping up and down and calmed him. His dragon looked over at the food storage and then back at Hiccup. "Alright, alright, you'll get your breakfast, don't worry about that." he chuckled and petted Toothless.

"Go back to being practically invisible? Hiccup, that was _before_ you met Toothless." She said and crossed her arms across her chest. "And shouldn't you be happy that you now have a positive status? Even when girls swoon over you, that's still positive." She added a little hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Yeah, but it's a bit too much for me. It's great and all, but at the same time I really wish that my positive status didn't' have to involve that." He said, nodding his head back as to refer to the new fangirls.

She glanced at the group of girls then back at Hiccup. Something about that had bothered her; she didn't know why or what, but it was definitely something. She ignored that thought for a while. "Just don't mind them." She shrugged. Then she realized; what if that's how Hiccup thinks of her too? What if he thought of her as clingy as those other girls? Was Ruffnut right? Maybe that was what bothered her. "Hiccup. I…." She stopped and shook her head. "Just don't mind them," she repeated.

Hiccup slightly smirked at the second time she said to ignore them "You already said that." He then turned more to her and said "Something's up. I can tell something's bothering you. Come on. Out with it." He didn't know how, but he just seemed to know something was bothering her and he needed to hear about it.

She looked away and sighed. "It sounds stupid but…" she paused. She didn't know how to say it. What was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to say it? She sighed again. "Hiccup, what do you think of me?" she asked, her blue eyes away from Hiccup's green ones.

He thought for a moment and then answered. "Well, I think that you're a great person to talk to, reliable, a great fighter and dragon rider and even though you can sometimes be a pain in the arm," he said with a slight chuckle and rubbed his arm "You're still pretty much amazing in every way. What else is there to say?" He shrugged with that goofy grin of his.

"Do you, uhmm…." she cleared her throat. She brushed her bangs from her face nervously only to have them fall on her face once again. "Do you… like me?" The words slipped away from her mouth before she could stop them. _Ugh, that was stupid!_ She thought. She looked down, regretting what she just said.

Hiccup slightly chuckled and with a sweet smile said "I've liked you" _No, have loved you, but like I'm gonna just say that now…_ "Pretty much my whole life. I ain't stopping now." he then turned around and walked off with Toothless. And even though he wanted to say the complete truth, he didn't. He wanted to wait for a better time and place. His answer was good enough for now.

Astrid felt her heart skip a beat at what Hiccup said. _I've liked you pretty much my whole life. I ain't stopping now_, the words repeated in her head. A small smile curled upon her lips. Maybe she was just overreacting over what Ruffnut said. A sigh of relief came out of her lips, followed by a splash of worry that soaked her in. She didn't know why she was worried or what she was worried about; she just was. The sound of laughter and footsteps coming from the other teens from the Great Hall interrupted her thoughts. She quickly walked her way to Stormfly and rode the Nader's back, wanting to stay away from the others for a while.

* * *

Favorite, follow and/or review if you like. It would certainly be appreciated.

In the next chapter be prepared for mass Hicstrid. You know you love Hicstrid. I know you do. That's why I'll give it to you.

Next chapter might be out tomorrow, unless I forget to post it or don't finish it.


	10. Twilight no vampires

**Twilight [no vampires]**

* * *

After getting Toothless his fish, Hiccup decided to have a little walk by himself, so he sent Toothless back home and walked around for a while, holding his arms crossed and having a small smile upon his lips. After a while, he decided to go into the forest. Hiccup walked through the forest, not knowing that Astrid was following him. He walked for a long time. When it was close to dusk, he went to a small cliff edge and sat down, his legs hanging off the edge and leaned on his knees with his elbows. He sighed as a breeze blew past him and made his hair blow out of his face.

When Astrid got back to her home, she noticed Hiccup walking by himself. Hiccup headed into the forest and a dumb idea crossed her mind: she decided to follow him. She followed Hiccup through the forest silently and, gladly, he didn't notice it. Dusk was approaching and Hiccup rested himself on a small cliff edge. Astrid stood a few feet behind him, by a tree.

"So, how are you enjoying the view?" said Astrid, her arms crossed and a smirk on her lips.

At the sound of Astrid's voice, Hiccup didn't even flinch. He was used to her sneaking up to him. "Eh, could be better." he shrugged and turned around to Astrid "And it just did." he smiled. "You know, you following me has become sort of a habit of yours."

She unfolded her arms and walked towards him, a little blush formed on her cheeks. She sat down beside Hiccup and gave him a light punch on the arm. "Hey, I only follow people when they deserve it." she said.

"Now what did I do, that I deserved you following me for an hour?" he asked, with a small smile, a slightly burrowed eyebrow and a slightly amused look on his face and he tilted his head slightly, as he had turned his head to Astrid and leaned down on his knees.

"Oh, I don't know, Hiccup. What do _you_ think you did?" she said teasingly with a hint of a smile, the happiness reflected in her eyes.

"Not really in a guessing mood." he shrugged and tried to keep himself from staring at Astrid's eyes. Favorite shade of blue…

Astrid didn't say anything. Their eyes met and they locked each other's gaze. Warmth spread, and sparks ignited. Those green eyes fixed on her blue tantalizing ones. They stayed like that for a minute, but it felt like years. It was like the whole world stopped and nothing else mattered but him. Astrid broke their gaze and focused on the stunning view. She bit her lips and couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach.

Hiccup looked away as well and turned his head back ahead and watched as the setting sun was soon submerged by the vast ocean and showed only a few glimpses of sunlight, which shined through the clouds and gave them a small silver lining of light and shadow. The sky and clouds were soft pinks, oranges and purples along with a few dark blues and violets surrounding the softness of the sunset. The cool breeze was blowing once more, a bit colder than before.

She let out a sigh and watched the sunset in awe. It was one of those moments where she wished the time would just stop and they'd stay there forever — side by side — admiring breathtaking sceneries together. The cool breeze made Astrid shiver a little.

Hiccup wrapped his hand around her and rubbed her arm and gave her slight warmth, as well as pulled her a little closer to him. He felt slightly nervous, but let the nervousness fade away.

Astrid slightly flinched at the touch of Hiccup's hand on her arm. She never liked it when people touched her, but with Hiccup, it felt entirely different — she loved it. The warmth was spreading all over. When he pulled her a little closer to him, Astrid's cheeks flushed red, her heart dancing to its new found rhythm. She rested her head on his shoulder, comfortable silence enveloping them.

Soon only a few small glimpses of the sun were shining and around the soft colors, the dark violets and blues were dancing around the sky within the clouds, as they were silky and soft and the colors passed right though them. And then the sun disappeared and the stars slowly emerged into the sky and shimmered. Hiccup loved it when the starts shimmered - it reminded him of how Astrid's eyes shined when the moonlight touched her face and shined into her eyes. Her eyes were like ponds in which her mood reflected any way she wanted - she could seal the ponds away and freeze them to hide her emotion and she could warm them up and show them to show her emotion. That was something he admired about her.

Evening came, the stars were like fireflies. It wasn't like the sunset, but it was as breathtaking. Hiccup's right arm was still embracing her and she took a hold his left hand. After a few moments, she broke the silence, "What are you thinking?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Eh, nothing much really…" he lied. He had many thoughts in him mind, every one of them revolving around Astrid. As far as he knew, in that moment, that seemed to last for eternity, the only thing that mattered to him was Astrid. Yet he decided to keep these thought of her to himself for a while.

"Don't you think they'll be looking for us or notice that we're gone?" she asked in a low voice. She didn't want to go back at all — she wanted to stay here in his arms forever — but she was worried about what others might think.

"Nah. Notice - maybe, but I doubt anyone will look for us. Besides, it's not like we'll stay here for long." he shrugged. As much as he wanted to stay there longer, with Astrid, he didn't want to show it. _I wish I could tell her the truth… the truth about how I love her, about how I think of her almost every day- alright, every day… the whole truth… not just a part of it… even if what I say is partly true, it still doesn't really count… _but no matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't tell it to her. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't.

Disappointment poured into her, and her lips curled into a frown. She let go of his hand and unwrapped herself from his arm. She sat with her legs crossed and stared into the stars, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked with concern, looking at her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Y'know… i-if you want, we can stay a bit longer… I wouldn't mind…" he offered with a small, sweet smile.

_But if I said I wanted to stay longer, I would sound like one of those clingy girls_, she thought. That thought visited her head again — the thing about the clingy girls. Even if he's here right now with her, even if he said that he liked her, she still doesn't know for sure. She wanted to ask him — there and now — if he loves her, but she couldn't. For a Viking who has the guts to do anything, she definitely cannot count on her guts for this one thing. She wanted to know so badly. The blonde Viking opened her mouth to ask… but closed it immediately. Instead, she did nothing but sigh.

"No, I'm okay. I'm good." she replied with a shrug and a fake smile.

Hiccup frowned at the answer. But not _just_ the answer. It was the way she smiled. Even though he saw her put on a smile, it didn't seem right. Could fool anyone, but not him. He knew to look further than just the smile. He saw that she seemed to not like her own answer and that she might have regretted part of it. "What's the matter?"

Astrid bit her lip. _Maybe it's time to tell the truth — to let it out._ She took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. "Ever since you're back, almost _every_ girl in this village never takes their eyes off you. Whenever you're around them, they go crazy and just are… _clingy. _It's not because I'm jealous or anything. It's just that…." she paused and hugged her knees, her eyes glued to what's in front of her "…. I feel like you think of me being as clingy as they are," she continued. She bit the inside of her lip, waiting anxiously for a response. The cold breeze along with her nervous state made her shiver once more and she kept her eyes away from his.

"Astrid," he started "That has to be one of the craziest ideas I have ever heard from you. You are anything but one of those clingy girls. I don't even care about any one of them; they're like flies – annoying. And even if you were clingy, I wouldn't think any less of you. So don't worry about it." he flashed a small smile.

A bit of relief dipped into her pool of worries. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Although, one question still remained: _does he love me_? It was an embarrassing question, but she had to know no matter what. She hugged her knees tighter, her body tensed up.

She stayed silent for a while before asking, "Do you, uhmm…. do you l-love me?" she almost choked on her own words. She closed her eyes and mentally crossed her fingers. _There, I asked him_, she said to herself. Now all she had to do was wait.

He was a little taken aback by her question. Of course he did. He'd loved her from the moment he saw her. Almost every thought revolved around her. Most of the village even knew about his crush on the girl way before he even met Toothless. He stayed quiet for that. He sighed and answered "Yes, I do…" _There… I finally did it… I told her…_

Astrid opened her eyes and tried to embrace the silence as she waited for Hiccup's answer. Her body was freezing from all the nervousness the situation was casting on her. Tick, tock. It felt like she's been waiting for an eternity when it was for only a while. Finally, his gentle voice said the answer opposite to what Astrid was expecting — _he does love her_.

She turned her head slightly, and her eyes met his. Her heart wouldn't stop dancing and the butterflies in her stomach won't settle down. She didn't know exactly how to react, so instead, she just acted normal. She flashed the brown haired Viking a wide grin. "Prove it," she said in a hush voice, but enough for him to hear.

Hiccup smirked at her request. And what happened next? It happened so fast, yet so slow, that it was almost impossible to describe. He answered "How about this?" in the same kind of hushed voice and one second he was smiling at her and the next thing he knew, he moved in and kissed her. His lips connected with hers and his eyes soon closed.

Astrid knew what was coming and she braced herself for it. His lips gracefully met hers and sparks flew. It all seemed to happen so fast. She gently placed her hand on the side of Hiccup's face. She already kissed him before, but this one was different. It felt so passionate and — real. She pulled away from the kiss to catch her breath and stared into his green eyes.

Hiccup stared back and asked with a grin "That proof enough?" He leaned back on his arms, which he set behind him.

"Definitely," she replied and winked at him. She stretched her legs and let them hang off the edge.

Hiccup let out a small "Hm" with a chuckle and a smirk and looked at Astrid.

She focused on the stars again as her mind replayed what had happened a few seconds ago, still unsure if it's real or not. She looked away from the sky to glance at Hiccup, but he was already looking at her. Chills ran down her spine as his eyes locked with hers again.

"What?" she asked with a smirk, hoping that he would wrap his arms around her again.

"Nothing…" he lied. He had often been caught staring at her and he was always asked the same question and he always replied the same. He couldn't help but look at her. He soon moved his eyes away from hers and stared off into the view in front. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds around - the waves of the ocean, the 'oo'ing of the owls, the sound of the wind rustling through the trees and the sound of silence…

Astrid kept her eyes at Hiccup even if he already looked away. She watched him for a while before turning her eyes on the view too. Moments of silence passed by.

"So… what are you _really_ thinking now?" she couldn't help but ask — after all what happened.

He opened his left eye at the question and shrugged "Nothing at the moment… just enjoying the silence…" It was true. The past few days haven't been exactly peaceful, so some quiet time was nothing other than a good thing.

"Hm." Astrid kept her eyes at the view and enjoyed the silence as well. The moonlight shined upon them as the stars shimmered. Astrid felt a little tired so she laid her back on the ground, her legs still hanging off the edge, and gazed at the sky.

"This might sound kind of stupid," he started "but I think we should do this more often. You know, just hang out and do nothing." he turned his head towards Astrid and smiled a little.

"No," she said softly. "It doesn't sound stupid. And yeah, I think we should do this more often too." she said and let out a happy sigh.

Hiccup let out a small yawn and lay down next to Astrid and rested his head on his hands. Astrid moved a little closer to Hiccup. She slightly turned her head and looked at him with a small smile. Hiccup glanced at her and let out a small, chuckled "Hm." of amusement. She wasn't usually like this… but he kind of liked it… it was cute… _wait, what?_ She gave him a playful eye-roll and gazed at the stars again, her small smile still visible. He took one hand from under his head and put it over his stomach and let out a small sigh.

Moments of silence passed by and she was getting a bit tired. Astrid turned and put an arm around Hiccup's stomach and rested her head on his chest. "I hope you don't mind." she said quietly, hugging Hiccup.

"Not at all." he replied.

She stayed like that for a while — her head on his chest — listening to the beating of his heart. The wonderful sound of his heartbeat, his even breathing, the waves of the ocean, the whistling wind. It all sounded so beautiful. He smiled a little and took his other hand out of under his head and placed it on Astrid's hand. His hand felt warm on hers. Her lips smiled a bit and she let out a small "hm." After a few moments, her eyes felt tired and her eyelids slowly covered her blue orbs. Soon then, she fell asleep on his chest. He noticed that she had fallen asleep and smiled. He stayed up for a while, but soon sleep took over him, too.

* * *

Favorite, follow and/or review if you like. It would certainly be appreciated.

I apologize for the delay in the update. I had a busy day.

In the next chapter nothing new really happens. It's the eleventh chapter you have to look forward to. Might post tomorrow.


	11. Merida's Visit

**Merida's visit.**

* * *

_**A week later… **_

A ship came in to the docks. Hiccup and Toothless were flying above, so when it did, they quickly landed. Hiccup jumped off his Dragon and with a small smile on his face, awaited the redhead that jumped off the ship.

"Hiccup!" the redhead screamed and ran towards him and gave him a tight hug that he returned. "How've you been?" she asked.

"Hey, Merida, I'm fine. Glad you made it."

"Are you kiddin'? Of course I did! How could I resist visiting my favorite guy?"

Hiccup chuckled and saw the other teens coming their way. "Hey, come on, there are some people I want you to meet."

Astrid and the others went to the docks as the ship arrived. Everyone got so excited, as they saw the redhead — everyone but Astrid. They made their way to Hiccup and the redhead with Astrid's arms crossed. Astrid knew better than to be jealous, especially after their night together by the cliff a week ago, but she couldn't help it.

"Guys, this is Merida. Also known as the least girly and princess-ly princess I have ever known." he introduced.

Merida pushed him to the side with a small laugh, "Oh shut up!"

Hiccup chuckled and regained his balance. He then directed to each of the teens (although I should probably say young adults, since this is in the second movie universe), introducing them, "Merida, these are the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Fishlegs, Snoutlout and Astrid."

Merida put her hands on her hips, as he introduced them, "Oh yeah, you told me about them when you were in Dunbroch. Nice to meet ya all."

"Hey," the blonde deadpanned with a nod.

Meanwhile the others crowded the redhead with such enthusiasm to meet the princess. Especially Snoutlout, who acted like another wonderstruck boy, just like he had when Heather got to Berk five years ago. Astrid rolled her eyes at them and let out a sigh.

As everyone went over to Merida, Hiccup didn't really pay much attention and rolled his eyes at Snoutlout's shenanigans.

He zoned out for a while, but snapped out of it when he heard a violent "Hey!" from Merida. "You get any closer and I'll punch you in the guts." He guessed she was referring to Snoutlout. And not a minute later, Snoutlout was in deep pain. Merida was just standing there nonchalantly and checking her nails. Everyone but Hiccup looked at her in surprise and once she noticed, she just put a hand on her hip and with a shrug said "What? He was practically begging me to hurt him. Poor lamb…" she added with a small pouty face. "Well, I don't know about you, but I could really use something to eat." she said crossing her arms and resting her chin on one of her hands which was held by the elbow.

"Same here." Hiccup agreed.

"Then come on, plus you owe me a tour of the island." she said going next to him and Toothless.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember." he rolled his eyes. The other teens followed them to the hall and sat at the same table as them.

The teens went to the Hall and all sat at the same table. Astrid sat across the table, facing Hiccup and Merida. At first she was glaring at Merida, and then she looked down on her food. _This is just stupid_, she thought to herself. She looked up and fixed her eyes on Hiccup. "So, Hiccup," she said. "Is she the princess you were talking about a week ago? With the bear and all?" she asked.

Merida had insisted on sitting next to Hiccup, so they were pretty much acting like young children - shoving, elbowing and pushing each other around and laughing it off. At Astrid question he stopped his bickering with Merida and turned to Astrid, "Hm? Oh, yeah."

Astrid wasn't usually a conversation starter so it was a bit odd that she was the first to talk, but he didn't really care.

"Wait, there was a bear?"

"Biggest bear you'd ever see - twice the size of any normal one - called him Mor'du. His fur covered in the blood of his hide littered with the weapons of fallen warriors — his face scarred with one dead eye! My father once went up against it; I saw it with me own eyes. He drew his sword and… Whooosh! One swipe, his sword shattered, then, chomp! Dad's leg was clean off! Down the monster's throat it went. Tha's his favourite part of his own "legend" as he calls it. Anyway, Mor'du had never been seen since. And he'd roaming the wild, awaiting his chance for revenge." she said with enthusiasm and added bear roars at the end.

"Woah…" the other teens looked at her with wide eyes.

"But wait, you said "called" as in - in the past. What happened to him?" Ruffnut asked.

"Well, ask dragon-boy here - he's the one that got rid of him."

"Hiccup?" they asked at the same time.

"Is there anything that I do that doesn't surprise you?" Hiccup asked with a hint of amusement. They were surprised when he defeated the Red Death, they were surprised when he survived and came back, now they're surprised he killed a bear.

Astrid rolled her eyes at both Merida and Hiccup — especially at Hiccup's gloating. After the bear story, she said nothing else. She toyed at her food as she avoided looking at the others. Hiccup seemed to have a lot more fun with Merida — and it made her jealous. It was kind of stupid, really. But seeing Hiccup smile wider with Merida, well it made Astrid's chest ache.

"Ow, Merida, would you quit doing that?"

"You started it."

"No, I'm pretty sure you did."

Merida gasped "I did no such thing."

"Don't play dumb, it doesn't work for you."

Fishlegs cleared his throat and spoke up: "Hey, so, would now be a good time to ask for you to tell us what happened in DunBroch?"

"Actually…" Hiccup started and nodded at Merida to continue the sentence.

"Hiccup sent me a letter to come here saying that I should visit first chance I get. The letter also said that one of the reasons for me to come is because you all want to know what happened."

"And who better to tell the tale than the two people who were there?"

"The answer is no one. And the two people are yours truly one-"

"And yours truly two."

"Finally! Well then? Go on." Snoutlout urged.

"Alright then. Hiccup?" Merida said, nodding her head as a signal to start first.

"Alright, so… here's what happened…"

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Favorite, follow and/or review if you like. It would certainly be appreciated.

Alright, here's where you start hating me. I'm probably not going to update for **days**. I know, I know, I posted all these chapters so quickly and stuff, but the next chapter is really fucking long. In the next chapter what I'll do is do a sort of a flashback thing. They won't be telling the story, the story will be telling itself as it shows itself to you through text on the screen which has not been spoken by a character. You get the deal. So... until the next update, friends.


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